LAETILLIA P[VBLI] L[IBERTA]
CVPITA
VIX[IT] ANN[IS] XXVII
Translation
THIS IS LAETILLIA,
BELOVED FREEDWOMAN OF PUBLIUS.
SHE LIVED FOR 27 YEARS.
Description
The central inscription is surrounded by birds and a floral garland suspended between two bucrania (ox skulls). These are common funerary motifs in Roman funerary art thought to represent sacrificial rites.
Funerary urn for the ashes of Laetilia, a freedwoman.
Rome, Italy, 100-150 BC. Found at Frediani Vineyard, Vicolo delle Tre Madonne, Rome, 1826.
acquired by Sir Charles Nicholson in Rome, 1857-58, donated 1860
NMR.1014